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THE GREAT TRAGEDY of the Church of Jesus Christ in ourgeJtleIatjlonis the failure to recognise the divine Person of the

our lives,

We are making the fatal mistake of attempting to substituteourwell-organised plans and programmes for the managementand the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit. But the HolySpirit is God's source of life and vitality to the church;without Him we are dead. He is God's answer to ourspiritual needs and when dare to Him we aredoomed to

Jesus called disciplesfrom the field, away from preaching,from healing the sick, from casting out devils, and told themto wait for the promise of the Father. Jesus underlinedthereby the importance of the anointing of the Holy Spiritupon our ministries. He suggestedthat our efforts, productivethough they may seem to be, are futile or short of any lastingresults if they are not done in the power and might of theSpirit of God. For this reason there should be no desiregreater in the heart of any child of God, any Christian worker,anyone who is called by the J,1flmeof Jesus Christ, than thedesire to live every momept; ipj the fulness and under thecontrol of the blessed Holy,Spirit of God.

Only as the Holy Spirit ministers through our lives can weconvincingly lift up our Saviour to the world of men. It isonly as He operates freely through our lives that we can hopeto liquidate the spiritual bankruptcy of the Church of ourLord. Dr. W. H. Griffith Thomas said, "It is only as adynamic that Christianity can recommend itself to the life ofto-day, and according to the New Testament this dynamic ispossible only through the grace and presence of the .HolySpirit." The only. way of demonstrating Christianity as asupernatural religion is by insisting upon the management,the administration, of the Holy Spirit.

ordinary work. We are not inpoliticians. We are not comedians. Our task is to rescuemen from the power of Satan. We are on the battlefieldagainst the forces of darkness (Ephesians 6. 12-13). We areenlisted in a spiritual battle, one that cannot be.fought withcarnal weapons.

For this reason God has made available to us supernaturalpower which is indispensable to our success in this warfare.God's word to us is dear: "Not by might, nor by power,but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4. 6).Paul told the Corinthians that he came "not with enticing

wordsand

Why should we be content with merely beating the air?Why should the church stoop to entertainment when theHoly Spirit stands ready to manifest His divine presence andpower among us? Oh, that we would prostrate ourselvesbetween the porch and the altar and confess to God ourutter hopelessness, our ballkruptcy and our sin of self-sufficiency,and yield ourselves to Him for the mighty infillingof His Holy Spirit.

for spiritual gifts. But not even these gifts guarantee a

(Romans 8.purpose for our existence.Christ. We are called to be followers of Him, to radiate thelife of our blessed Lord and Master.

In order to effect this, God has given us His Holy Spirit todwell within us. He will lovingly communicate to us thelife and qualities of our Lord until Christ is funy formed inus. How amazing that God should make it possible for usto act like Christ, to talk like Hil11!

This 'is true Christianity. We need not struggle to be holy.because Christ lives His holiness in us by the indwelling HolySpirit. We need not struggle to have faith, for we "live bythe faith of the Son of God." We shaH not lack love, forHis love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost,

"We have the mind of Christ," says the Scripture. He isour wisdom, our righteousness, our life. He is everythingto us. Further, the Holy Spirit desires to transform us'~from glory to glory" into the very image of Christ (2Corinthians 3.18). Oh, the depth of the riches of His lovetoward us !

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In Galatians we have that beautiful list of what. Paul cans" the fruit of the Spirit": love, joy, peace, long-imffering, .gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance; these arecharacteristics of Christ which the Holy Spirit will cultivatein us for the glory of God.

Thank God for the Holy Spirit. It was a sad day whenhorlesthearted Christians unguardedly allowed themselves toconfuse the graces and virtues of the Spirit with what was

simply a demonstratio~ of the flesh. May God spa~e us fromsubstitutys for Spirihfilled saints. May God. grant 1,1sthegenuine manifestation.of His Holy Spirit among us s.o thatwe will remind men of Christ. When we speak men will beconvinced of the reality .of our Lord and be pricked in theirhearts as in the days when the gospel was first made known.

Second, a Spirit-filled mahis always available for the operationof the Holy Spirit. After the Spirit has formed . Christwithin us He desires to use our bodies as centres of operationfor His mighty working power, asking onlythato~r livcsbe

available to Him. It is most encouraging to. note that Goddoes not lopk for supermen or for ho an:; perfect. Hedoes.not look for men who have a jned great things in life.Rather our lIeavenly Father seeks men whowilJ throw them-selv:esat .Hisfeet and say, "Lord, bere am I. I amavaihlble."

Itis significantthat the Holy Spirit should.tell us that" Eliaswas a man~' and that he experienced the same:passions aswe (James 5. 17). Yet this man moved his generation forGod because his life was available to the Holy Spirit. Thehumble men in the days of early Christianity were termed

"unlearned and ignorant," but they nevertheless turned thew.orldupside down for Christ, for they dared to render theirlives available to the Spirit. .Menand women wer~converteddaily. The sick were healed and the dead raised. Prisondoors were opened.. God was on the move. It was a timeof revivaL The foundations of hell were shaken.

God is the same to-day.. He is stm looking for men who areare available, and the world also is looking.for men who willlet God use them. Paul's dynamic ministry began when,under the blazing light of the presence of Christ on the

Damascus road, he cried, "Lord, what wilt thou have me todo?" Are we available? .

Third, the Spirit-jilled man lives under the absolute. and un-.~rP hindered control of the Holy Spirit. To be fined. ~lth the

.' Spirit is to be controlled by the Spirit. The Holy Spirit

should be allowed to contro! every word, every thought,every deed, .everyemotion, every disposition. He desires toteach us (Luke 12. 12; 1 Corinthians 2. 13), to :bring aUthibgs to our remembrance (John 14.26), to guide us into alltruth (John 16. 13) and to glorify Christ through. us (John

16.14), to reprove the world of sin through us (John 16.8)andito empower~s for service(Acts 1. 8). In Romans 8.26we are told that He helps our weakness in prayer, for we donot know what we should pray for. Instead, the Spirit makesintercession for us.. Oh, that we would give Him back Hisrightful place !

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The secret of the StiCCf,'JSS of the Early Church was simply thatthe Holy Spirit was its administrator. The apostles soughtHis guidance. When Peter was praying the Holy Spirit saidto him, "Three men seek thee ... get thee down, and gowith them," and Peter obeyed (Acts to . 19.20). The Spiritsaid to Philip, " Go near, and join thyself to this chariot,"and Philip." ran thither" in obedience to the Spirit's voice(Acts 8. 29).

The Spirit chose the men who were His representatives (Acts13. 2). It was He who chose the fields of service; certainapostles were "forbidden of the Holy Ghost" tp preach in

Asia (Acts 16.6). He ~as consulted ;:tboutmatters relatingto the business of the church. "It seemed good to the HolyGhost, and to us," said. James in his letter to the Ge!)tilebrethren abroad (Acts 15.28). Even Satan recognised .Hisauthority and preeminence (Acts 19. 15). Does the HolySpirit have absolute and unhindered control over our lives?

Thq Holy Spirit is God's love-giftto us qn,this sideof Calvary.The warriors of the Old Testament never.knew Him as .wecan know Him to-day. He came upon them only in ameasure and for specific tasks. But those men anowed thatmeasure. to work. Elijah prayed down fire from heaven"Joshua commanded the sun to stand stilI. Samson took oftthe gates of Gaza and slew an army with the jawbone of amule.

Incredible though it may seem, God has provided somethingbetter for us. To-day the Holy Spirit abides with us forever.

He has chosen our bodies to b( i Histemple. We are His actioncentres. There are unlimitedpOssIbilitiesopened before usthrough the power of the Holy Spirit. "He that believeth onme," Jesus said, "the works that I do shaHhe do also; andgreater works than these shaH he do; because I go unto myFather" (John 14. 12). In the same breath He said: "AndI wilI pray tbe Father and he shall give you another Com-forter, that he may abide with you for ever~"

How amazing! We need never say "I cab't,". for "Icando all things through Christ which strengtheneth me."

We heed never confess fear, for "God hath not givenus thespirit of fear; but of power,and of love, and of a soundmind." We need never fall under Satan's pressure, for" greater is he that is in (us), than he that is in the wodd."We need never be in bondage, for "where the Spirit of theLord is,there is liberty."

Let every Christian ask himself, " How much of my life doesthe Holy Spirit control ?" Does He saturate every compart-ment of my being? Am I empty.so that He can fin me ?Am I willing to be nothing so that He can be everything?Am I hungry so that He can satisfy me ?

'~Blessedare they which do hunger and thirst after righteous-ness: for they shall be fined" (Matthew 5. 6). " Be filledwith the Spirit." ..

from THEALLIANCEWrrNEssfor March 19th, 1969.